The Five Flames
by ShougiKnight
Summary: 5927/2759 Tsuna gets kidnapped by an enemy family. Will Gokudera be able to save him? Gets better after the first chapter, I promise. I did my research. I love reviews!
1. Missing

Gokudera cried out in surprise while falling over a computer chair, "WH-WHAT HAPPENED?" His eyes were wide as he looked up at Dino, shocked beyond speech.

Dino sighed, "You're usually the one who gets it the first time Gokudera, do I really have to go through it again? Don't tell me the other guardians are going to be doubly slow on the uptake for this one too. I don't have that much time to waste on Ryohei."

Gokudera just stared up at him from the floor, still in shock, his face changing rapidly from bright red to sheet white.

"J-just tell me who did it.." Gokudera managed to force out, stumbling over his words. "As Tsuna's right hand man it is my fault for not being there to protect him. I will take responsibility for this." Gokudera's face had settled on sheet white as he slowly straightened up to his feet. His eyes were dialated and he looked like he was already half dead.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. This enemy is a formidable one. This family is well known for their new technology developments in the field of defense. They use their flames to produce a shield that is hardened by their signature lightning flames, and laced with sun and cloud flames so no matter how strong the blast is that hits it, the shield will fix itself instantly. Usually the family stays mostly in the shadows, selling minor secrets strategically to other families. In the past, whenever they have taken an offensive, they have been shown to take every precaution. Their strategy is unmatched. The rest of the mafia world is generally just lucky that they don't take the offensive more often." Dino listed off, again, as Gokudera didn't seem to get it the first time.

"Well I can't just sit here!" Gokudera exploded back at him, "They have Tsuna!" His fists clenched at his side and his face darkened. He looked away as his eyes started to burn with tears that wanted to fall.

"H-…how did this happen anyway..." Gokudera whispered. "We were never far away from him, how could they have gotten him…."

"It seems to have been based out of your school," Dino read off of a clipboard. "As far as we can tell, the family begun by pickpocketing Tsuna's '27' mittens out of his school backpack in between classes; that way when they made their move to take him, he wouldn't be able to defend himself with the X-gloves. We caught minimal video footage, Tsuna seemed as though he couldn't do anything. Also, we did see something white in the leader's hands while he was conversing with Tsuna as well as a fair sized box on the floor that seemed to have some kind of flame signature to it. It all happened very quickly."

"so, we never had a chance…" Gokudera replied, still whispering. "stupid Uri, why did you choose just then to run away. I should have been there for him."

Dino shook his head, "I understand how hard this is for you. I will be gathering the other guardians. We will meet in the main conference room of the new base in one hour. Take some time to gather your thoughts and be there. Got it?" Dino tried to sound commanding but Gokudera just nodded numbly.

"…right. I will be there."

"We will discuss the terms of the ransom that we received. It will be difficult to meet. When the guardians show up, try to start explaining it to them so we do not waste time during the actual meeting, going over the basics over and over."

Dino walked away, leaving Gokudera to stare out the window, his thoughts spinning wildly out of control.

"_Gokudera-kun, you wanted to meet me up here? Is there something that you need?" Tsuna looked up at him, his wide eyes innocent to the purpose of their meeting._

"_Y-yes, well, that is there is something that I wanted to tell you, juudaime." Gokudera would not make eye contact with Tsuna and it was starting to bother him a little._

"_Of course, Gokudera-kun, you can tell me anything. Is there a problem?" Tsuna looked up at him, starting to get worried._

"_No, no problem, well I hope it won't become a problem, just….give me a minute." Gokudera looked down, "this is very difficult for me."_

"_Ah, well, you can take your time." Tsuna smiled gently, taking a seat on a nearby concrete barrier. "I am here."_

_Gokudera paused for a long while, considering the best way to do this. After a little bit of time he finally spoke. "It…it seems that I have fallen in love with you, Tsuna."_

_Tsuna's eyes widened. He was not expecting that, and Gokudera had not called him Tenth, Juudaime, or Decimo. He must be serious. Tsuna's mind whirled._

_Gokudera looked up and saw the shocked look on his beloved boss's face. "J-just let me show you." He pulled out his storm ring. "This is what a normal dying will flame looks like coming from my ring." Red flames came spurting out of his ring, it looked perfectly normal, Tsuna had seen it before._

_Gokudera's voice softened, "Now just watch this, please, Tsuna." As Gokudera spoke Tsuna's name, the flame size doubled, throwing red light onto Gokudera's face and body. Tsuna's eyes widened, he had never seen anything like this before._

_Gokudera looked up at Tsuna, his face calm and serious, "There is more." The red light danced off of his eyes, the wind from the flames teasing his hair and messing it up in all directions. _

"_I love you, Tsunayoshi Sawada."_

_The flames erupted from Gokudera's storm ring, casting a bright red light on the entire area. The wind from the flames making both boys' clothes dance and their hair whip around their faces; it was a resolve that Tsuna had never seen come from his storm guardian before. He had had no idea that spoken words could have such an effect on the size of the flames. What's more, the flames just kept going, they were controlled. Gokudera's resolve was pure and the flames were reacting to it. _

_Gokudera searched Tsuna's face for a reaction but all he saw was amazement and red light, he wasn't sure if that was what he was looking for. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted as Uri flew out of her box. She was reacting to the flames, Gokudera had forgotten about it, of course she would sense the difference, she loved storm flames more than anything and it had been a while since he had last treated her to them. Faster than an untrained eye could follow, Uri latched herself on to Gokudera's wrist, her teeth surrounding the ring, her claws embedded in his lower arm._

_Crying out in pain, Gokudera's concentration was broken and the flames disappeared. Uri, upset with her master for taking away the flames, scratched at his face and ran off in the other direction. _

_As Gokudera ran after Uri, tears started streaming down his face. After all that, Tsuna had said nothing to him. Did he not care for him in return? The tears blurred his vision as he started looking for Uri. 'No good,' he thought, 'if I can't see anything how am I supposed to find that stupid cat.' He sat back, leaning his head against a tree, willing himself to stop crying._

_Eventually, he resumed searching for Uri, that was where Dino found him, his eyes hard as he led Gokudera back to the base. _

_No Uri. No boss. _


	2. Rings

Gokudera walked into the main conference room with his hands in his pockets. Everyone looked up from where they were sitting. Everyone was there, except for Mukuro and Dino. Gokudera assumed that it was just taking a while to get back from Kokuyo land as it was quite a ways out of town.

"Did Dino explain the situation to everyone?" Gokudera said in a low voice.

Heads nodded around the room, for once, even Hibari cooperated. Lambo looked to be on the brink of tears, big surprise.

"Right, that's a relief. Does anyone have any questions? I can't guarantee that I have the answers but we could at least talk about it." Gokudera took charge of the meeting, he was, after all, the tenth's right hand man.

Yamamoto raised his hand. Gokudera rolled his eyes, "We aren't in class, Yamamoto. Do you have a question?"

"Does the Vongola family even have that much money? And will we be able to get it in time to give it to them?" Yamamoto looked as though he had put a lot of thought into this.

Giannini's face came over the screen, cutting off Gokudera's reply.

"We have calculated the amount of flame volts needed to break through their flame-shield defense. The number our computer gave us exceeds the amount that any one Vongola ring could emit on its own. They must have predicted this because in the ransom note it specifies that only one person from the Vongola family will be allowed within a 100 meter radius of the base's opening. I will continue running reports and will see if there are any weaknesses in the shield. Good luck, guardians."

Gokudera's face darkened, "Right. I would like everyone to put their Vongola rings on the table in front of them please."

Hibari was the first to comply, mumbling something about how he never wanted it anyway. Everyone else just looked shocked.

Lambo piped up, "But Lambo likes Lambo's shiny! Why does Stupidera want it?"

Gokudera sighed and took a bill out of his wallet. "Lambo, I would like to borrow your ring for a little while. I will give it back. Here is some money for takoyaki. Will you be a good little cow?"

Lambo's face lit up, "Takoyaki? Of course Lambo will do anything for takoyaki! Stupidera! I was just trying to con you out of your money! Lambo is so smart!" Lambo jumped off the table and grabbed the money out of Gokudera's hand, walking out the door.

Gokudera allowed himself a half smile as he pulled the ring off of Lambo's left horn as he walked by. He had almost forgotten to give it to him in his excitement over getting takoyaki money, it's a good thing it was in an obvious place. He slid the ring onto his thumb and turned to the rest of the guardians as the door closed behind Lambo.

"WHY DID YOU EXTREMELY STEAL LAMBO'S LIGHTNING RING!" Ryohei exploded from across the table.

Gokudera held up a hand and lit both the storm ring on his middle finger and the lightning ring on his thumb. "Because I am the only guardian who can use more than one Vongola ring at a time to our knowledge, I am the only one who could possibly hope to save the tenth singlehandedly."

Hibari flicked his Vongola ring with one finger, sending it spinning across the table toward Gokudera, thus providing him with his consent. Gokudera nodded his thanks in his direction and slipped the ring onto his pinky. It was too big, but Gokudera planned on keeping his hand in a fist as much as possible anyway.

Hibari stood up to walk out the door, pausing just within Gokudera's hearing. He said quietly, "I saw and heard you on the roof of Namimori Middle today. I give you this chance only this once, to make things right. Besides, I don't need a ring to bite people to death." He turned slightly so the rest of the room could hear. "The ring is a pretty trinket, Hibird likes it. I will be expecting it back."

The room was in shock, never had they heard Hibari say so much at one time, even if they did only hear the last part. Gokudera on the other hand, was completely blown away. Hibari had cooperated with his plan. He was expecting him to be the hardest to convince. He nodded, determined. He knew his plan was a good one and Hibari recognized that. It was the only way.

Only two more rings. Gokudera turned to the last two guardians in the room. "Yamamoto Takeshi, Sasagawa Ryohei, do you really intend on hindering the attempt to rescue your boss?" Gokudera felt a pang of guilt at the insinuation of his words. He had no right to be so cruel, but he had to do this.

Yamamoto looked up in surprise. "Are you sure you can go up against them alone?"

Gokudera looked away. "I—I have to try. There's nothing more that can be done."

"But won't the rings exhaust you? Isn't it tiring enough using one ring? What will five do to you?" Yamamoto looked concerned, but he started loosening the ring on his finger.

"Yes! You will be extremely tired! You will sleep extremely well!" Ryohei seemed to grasp the concept of the rings draining powers, quite well, though his was a sun ring. He started taking it off his finger as well.

Yamamoto shook his head. "Five rings will kill you, won't it, Gokudera…The Vongola rings are too strong. They will take too much out of you."

Ryohei looked up in surprise and jammed his ring back on his finger, making a fist and hiding it under the table.

Gokudera looked up at Yamamoto, his eyes were threatening to cry again. "Yamamoto, I told Tsuna today." Yamamoto's head snapped up. "You know why I have to do this, don't you?"

Yamamoto walked over, putting the rain ring in Gokudera's hand. He put one arm across Gokudera's chest and over one shoulder. "Just come back with, Tsuna. Okay?" He walked silently out of the room.

Ryohei looked bewildered at Yamamoto's sudden mind change. He stood up. "You will be extremely careful with my ring, right Takohead? I want it back, I need it to protect Kyoko." Gokudera looked up and nodded. Ryohei saw the determination in his eyes and grunted. "Good."

Ryohei followed Yamamoto out of the room as Gokudera slipped the rain ring onto his pointer finger and the sun ring onto his ring finger. Gokudera turned to leave as well. He had to get Tsuna, no time to waste.

As the door shut behind him, Giannini's face came onto the screen with a paper in front of it. "The reading from the shield is much stronger than we initially thought. We don't ha-where did everyone go? Hmm.. maybe I have the wrong conference room." The screen went blank.


	3. Guarded

Gokudera walked quickly out of Vongola base and towards Namimori forest. The enemy family had made it very clear where their base was located. They wanted their money, but Gokudera was positive that they did not intend to give Tsuna back. At least not without a fight….

After an hour of walking, Gokudera started to sense people around him. They kept to the shadows, but Gokudera knew that they were there. As he was not carrying anything, he knew that they would soon figure out that he had no money with him. Gokudera clenched his fists. He didn't even have Uri, that meant that he couldn't use Sistema C.A.I. He felt hopeless without it.

He came to a clearing that shimmered with green lightning flames, finally he had found it. There was a low lying concrete shed with a small door in it. So their base was underground as well. There was no telling how big it actually was.

Five men stepped out from the shadows, placing themselves between Gokudera and the shield. No, four men and a woman, he was mistaken before.

The man in the center stepped forward, evidently the leader. "You have been identified as Gokudera Hayato, right hand man to the Vongola boss, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Do you have the ransom money?"

Gokudera raised his right hand and spread his fingers, palm facing the ground. Dying will flames flew out from each finger toward the five in front of him. Toward the woman, he sent blue rain flames, they should only paralyze her, sending her body into a temporary coma. The men, he didn't care about. "You can burn in hell. You'll get no money from me." Gokudera spat to the fallen scouts.

He stepped around the unconscious forms at his feet. Lighting all five rings once more he swung at the shield, punching as hard as he could. The lightning crackled and the shockwave sent him flying backwards a few feet, tripping over the leader.

Gokudera stood up, straightening his shirt and dusting off his pants he walked forward again.

"…Tsuna…" he whispered. All five of his flames reacted, doubling in size. He punched once, the flames crackled but couldn't send him backwards. He punched twice and saw a clear crack to the other side of the shield. He punched three times and fell forward in through the shield to the other side.

Gokudera stayed there for a moment, on his hands and knees, shaking at the effort that had taken. He leaned back on his heels and held his hand out, his knuckles were burned from the intensity of the fires and his hand was shaking visibly. Looking around him, he saw no one. They had not expected him to be able to get through their shield. They had gotten overconfident. A few moments more and his hand had grown steady again.

He stood up slowly, his eyesight dimming a little as his body threatened to faint. Steeling his nerves he took a few steps forward. 'Tsuna… I'm coming for you…don't give up on me yet….'


	4. Mist

As Gokudera started walking toward the entrance of the base, he turned around to look behind him. The hole in the shield where he had fallen through had completely closed up, courtesy of the sun flames it was infused with. The cloud flames also had an effect, he could tell. The purple flames were causing the yellow ones to multiply so they could heal the green flames faster. It was an ingenious system, Gokudera realized. He made a mental note to try it himself later.

Finally reaching the door of the shed, he pulled it open and stared into the dark. A long, dark staircase descended into the floor, lined with the dimmest of lights. Taking a deep breath, Gokudera stepped forward. 'Ready or not, here I come.'

Gokudera reached the end of the staircase and stepped into the large stone room at the bottom. The base was a lot smaller than he thought. The room seemed to have no exits. Looking around he first saw Tsuna. He was blue and frozen, but with a calm look on his face.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed before he could stop himself. He ran a couple of steps forward before he was stopped by a glowing green hyena growling at him.

"Ah, the storm guardian, Gokudera Hayato is it?" Gokudera turned to face the voice. A tall, lanky man was lounging on a small couch at the other end of the room. He had a full head of black hair with silver shocks coming from his temples. His cold, violet eyes could be seen flashing from across the room. As the man stood up, Gokudera settled into a fighting stance. There was only one man, he could not lose.

"Yes, you can lose. And you will." The man spoke. Gokudera looked up in shock. He could read minds?

"Yes, I can. Now stop thinking senseless things." The man laughed a shallow laugh with no feeling behind it. Gokudera felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"What did you do to Tsuna?" Gokudera yelled, tired of the man's mind reading already.

The man sighed and reached out to pet his hyena, which had crossed the room back to him. The box animal looked strong. It was larger than any other hyena Gokudera had ever heard of.

"Well, you see. I did nothing to him really. He did it to himself." The man sounded sad, as if he had wanted to do something but couldn't have because something had already been done. "I will show you what happened, I enjoy seeing others wriggle before I kill them." The man smirked.

Indigo flames surrounded Gokudera as he stood, whirling toward where he had last seen Tsuna. So the man could use Mist flames too. This was a problem. Gokudera couldn't use mist flames (or sky flames) so he was clearly at a disadvantage. Gokudera's mind whirled with the mist, suddenly an image began to appear, it was Namimori middle school…

"_What did you do with Gokudera?" Tsuna demanded to the six men. His little fists clenched at his sides and tears formed in his eyes._

_The man with the violet eyes just laughed. "Come see for yourself, little Vongola." He gestured to the box, Uri mewed pathetically from behind bars. _

"_Give me my friend back!" Tsuna yelled. He reached for his gloves but they weren't in his pocket._

"_Are you looking for these, little Vongola?" The man laughed again. "I'm sorry, but I can't have you using these against us. We only want to talk."_

_Tsuna paled, he couldn't defend himself without his gloves. Where was Gokudera? Why was Uri in this man's cage? What was going to happen? Tsuna suddenly felt a hard bite on the back of his neck and green flames crackled in the corners of his vision._

"_Arrivederci, Little Vongola…" The man's face started to fade._

_A few hours later, Tsuna woke up in the one room base. The man sat on his couch across the room._

"_Ah, you are awake, Vongola. Now we can have our talk." The man's violet eyes glinted dangerously. "I need information from you before I kill you. I need to know the weaknesses of all of your guardians. If they are to fall quickly and painlessly, you will need to provide me with this information. I have your gloves so there is nothing you can do to protect yourself. As you can see, it's hopeless to resist. So let's start with the Storm Guardian. What is his weakness?" _

_Tsuna's vision swam, all he could see was the man's violet eyes, swirling in his vision, penetrating his mind. He screamed as loudly as he could and mentally imagined walls bursting up around his thoughts._

_As Tsuna's scream's echoes died down, the man's face turned to a frown. "Oh, Vongola, now you have made me unhappy. You will not like that. You will give me the information I want, and now you will suffer as well."_

_More screaming followed as the eyes destroyed the walls that Tsuna had formed in his mind; each one causing him new pain. Finally, the destruction stopped and silence came over the room once again._

"_Now, you will tell me what I need to know." The man whispered menacingly. The room seemed to suck his voice into its dark voice and Tsuna barely managed to catch what he had said._

"_Never," was Tsuna's hoarse reply, "I will never tell you. You will never win." With this Tsuna stood, weak as he was and a calm look passed over his features. He formed his hands into a square over his heart and whispered, "Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition."_

"_What? How can you do that without your gloves or your ring? Stop! I need to know!" The man looked panicked as he reached his hand out as if to stop Tsuna's technique._

_Tsuna's face was calm as ice formed all over his body, ice crystals protruded out from his heart. He would seal himself away to protect his friends. Nothing else could possibly be done._

_The man with the violet eyes retracted his hand, his fingertips were frozen. He had gotten too close to Tsuna's technique. There was nothing more he could possibly do._

The swirling mist began to dissipate as the flashback ended. Gokudera had tears streaming down his face. Tsuna's screams still echoed in his head. He half stood and turned towards Tsuna's body, laying still and cold in the corner.

Ignoring the man on the couch he half ran half stumbled over to the corner and wrapped his arms around his boss. "Tsuna, why would you do that? You didn't need to. We're not worth it…" Gokudera sobbed out. He couldn't see anything for the tears running down his face. He couldn't see when the man across the room stood up and started walking toward him.

Gokudera's head was suddenly yanked away from Tsuna, the man with the violet eyes grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head against the ground.

"Are you really so weak that your weakness is for your boss? You have no protection against that? I thought the Vongola would be more of a challenge to take down!" The man screamed into Gokudera's face, spit flying from his lips. Gokudera's eyes were vacant. The man tried to concentrate on reading his mind but there was nothing there. What? Nothing there? Impossible!

Gokudera's mind was stopped. Tsuna was dead. He had used his own technique to freeze himself so that he could protect his friends. He had died doing what he had always tried to do. Suddenly, a small flame lit itself in the back of Gokudera's mind. Revenge. He would kill the one that had caused Tsuna so much pain. His eyes snapped up, meeting the violet eyes of the man holding his hair.

"You have no chance. You will die." Gokudera's voice was low and dangerous. He brought his fist up and lit all five of the Vongola rings. "I will make you pay for what you did to Tsuna." His rings reacted, yet again, to Tsuna's name. Doubling in size, they did twice the damage when Gokudera slammed his right fist into the man's face. The man could seemingly do nothing against this new opponent. Gokudera slammed his fist into whatever part of him he could reach.

"I love Tsuna, I will never let him go. I am his right hand man. I will protect him until I die!" Gokudera's flames exploded. His eyesight blurred with the sudden loss of energy from his body. He spent the last bit of his energy concentrating all five flames into a single shot, directly at the terrified and bloody man cowering in front of him.

Finally, the man lay still. Gokudera could no longer see, his eyesight was too dim and so was the room around him. He couldn't see the flames that had started burning in Tsuna's heart, melting the ice around him. He couldn't see that his target was still breathing. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.

But he could still hear.

Gokudera fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. He heard something stir in front of him and his heart dropped to his stomach. He hadn't beaten him. He had no strength left and the enemy could still move. This was the end. He wouldn't survive a single hit in his state. His head bowed and dropped to his chest.

"Operation X: X Burner." Gokudera's unseeing eyes widened. C-could it possibly be…?

The man in front of him let out a whimper, then fell silent as Gokudera felt intense heat fly past him. As the flames in the room ate up the rest of the oxygen supply, Gokudera's head grew heavy. Surely he had just imagined the whole thing, he was facing a mist user… He dropped to the ground, unconscious, but never knew that he never hit it as arms wrapped around him before he could hit the cold stone floor.

"I love you too…Hayato."


	5. Stairs

First off, my apologies to Goldenbutterfly, kawamoyashi, Kyurengo, and sweetpeatea; my story subscribers. I meant to finish this fic, really I did. I am so sorry you had to wait so long. Long chapter to make up for it! Please forgive me! Next chapter will be the last, I promise I'll wrap it up well. Thank you for reading! I love reviews!

Finding his gloves and his Vongola ring on the fallen man's person, Tsuna stumbled across the room to where Uri was caged.

"Shh Uri, calm down, come here pretty kitty, it's all right now." Tsuna cooed at the terrified baby leopard in the back corner of the cage. With a few cautious steps Uri finally leapt forward and latched herself on Tsuna's shirt. He wrapped his arms around the shaking kitten and walked carefully over to where he had laid Gokudera.

Kneeling down next to Gokudera, he set Uri down next to her master. Tsuna sat back on his heels to catch his breath in the oxygen-deprived room and watched with a sad look as Uri tried to wake up her master. Uri hissed at Gokudera menacingly, flexing her claws. Popping one claw out she raked it slowly across his face, baring her teeth. Tsuna reached a hand out to stop her as a drop of blood appeared at the end of her claw. His hand was unneeded though, Uri was faster. Instantly, the hissing stopped and the tiny cat leaned forward to lick the blood from his wound, mewling pitifully, begging her master to wake up. When his cut had stopped bleeding, she then tried butting his cheek with her head. When that didn't work either she finally turned to Tsuna, who had never heard a cat cry up until this point.

With tears in his eyes as well, Tsuna nodded to the cat and pulled Gokudera by the arm over his shoulder as much as he could. Uri latched her teeth onto Gokudera's pant leg and helped pull him along as much as she could, still mewling quietly.

Tsuna carried his unconscious right hand man up the stairs to the entrance of the base. Tears were falling slowly down his face as he struggled to lift the larger man. Stumbling several times, he slowly made his way up, sobbing gently. Slowly, so slowly, gaining more and more oxygen with each difficult stair, he made his way toward the fading daylight at the top of the stairs.

When he had reached the halfway point, he had to stop for a break, he could breathe a little easier now but he was still exhausted from using up so much energy using zero point breakthrough _and _an X-Burner both with no gloves or ring. Uri butted her head against his hand, pulling Gokudera's arm over to him so he could see the Vongola rings on his burned hand.

"Wha-" Tsuna sputtered, "why does Gokudera have everyone's rings?" Uri let out a little meow and licked at the sun ring.

"Th-th…the sun ring! You're a genius, cat!" Tsuna leaned forward, and eased the sun ring off of Gokudera's ring finger, trying to avoid tearing the burned, taut skin on his knuckles.

Tsuna exhaled when he finally got the ring off and slipped it onto his finger. Concentrating all of his will, he looked down at the ring on his hand, tiny sun flames crackled above the crest on the ring.

"Thank goodness that worked," Tsuna breathed, "Now the question is, where to start?" He looked down at Uri, the only conscious thing he could possibly be talking to. Uri mewed quietly and licked the small cut on Gokudera's cheek where she had scratched him earlier. Looking back to Tsuna, she mewed again.

Tsuna nodded, "You're sorry, aren't you. Okay, I'll heal that one first." Making a fist he moved the sun flames across Gokudera's cheek, after a few seconds the cut disappeared. Tsuna looked back at Uri, panting slightly, "It's no good, I don't have enough energy left and my sky flames don't turn into nearly as effective sun flames. We'll have to get him up to fresh air, then maybe we can try again." Uri meowed in affirmation and set her paws on Tsuna's arm, licking the sun flames coming from his ring. Tsuna gave her a quizzical look, now was hardly the time to be wanting a snack.

Tsuna's eyes widened as he noticed the spotted patches on Uri's back expand. After another couple of minutes of Uri licking the flame and Tsuna staring at the changes, he noticed her shoulders were getting wider. Finally, the flames on the sun ring sputtered and went out. He looked over Uri, she was nowhere near full grown, but still, she looked stronger and now was just above knee-height.

Uri growled lightly at Tsuna, her voice deeper now, and nudged herself under both of the unconscious Gokudera's legs. Tsuna smiled weakly at her, his eyes still red from crying.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Tsuna pulled Gokudera's arm around his shoulders and stepped forward again, noticing the difference it made now that Gokudera's legs weren't dragging. He smiled back at Uri and started back up the steps.

Finally making it to the top of the stairs, Tsuna collapsed onto his knees. The limp Gokudera's head slid down to rest on his thigh. Tsuna leaned his head back against the stone wall of the shed, his face in a mottled sunbeam coming from the above trees. Uri licked at Gokudera's face before curling herself into a tired ball of fur next to his neck.

Uri and Tsuna both fell asleep, just glad to be back outside again, and safe. Safe being the most important thing.

59-27-59-27-59-27-59-27-59-27-59-27-59-27

An hour later, both were still asleep, breathing gently in the newly found oxygen. Gokudera's eyes fluttered, opening slowly.

Gokudera blinked, and again. He still could see nothing, his vision was all a blur of light and dark splotches. Mentally he checked himself. He blinked, it still didn't fix his vision. He breathed in, ouch, that hurt. Cracked ribs, check. He tried moving his fingers. He tried to lift his hand and stretch out the soreness…and felt two of his fingers twitch before resting back on the cold ground. He turned his attention to his legs. He couldn't move them at all. It felt as though they were trapped under some heavy stone slab. What was this next to his face? It was furry, and breathing. A mental image of a huge green hyena crackling with lightning flashed through his mind.

He started to hyperventilate.

He couldn't help it. He was scared out of his mind. He couldn't see or move to defend himself. His back was cold against the ground and his sight seemed to be dimming by the second. His eyes shifted wildly back and forth. 'Please, come back, just let me see where I am,' He begged silently to himself.

Tsuna woke with a start when Gokudera's body started to jerk with his fast, labored breathing. He sat up, looking down into…clouded eyes.

"Gokudera-kun! Stop, calm down! I'm right here. Please Gokudera-kun…" Tsuna begged, shaking him by the shoulders.

'Who's that? Is that…it couldn't be Tsuna, he sounds so far away, like I'm swimming,' Gokudera thought, 'First, I can't stop hyperventilating and now I am hallucinating. Just kill me now, you sick bastard. Stop playing with my mind. Merde, I hate mist users.'

Tsuna was panicking, what was wrong? He put his hand on Gokudera's feverish cheek. Uri sat up and watched expectantly, the tip of her tail twitching.

"Hayato…please." Tsuna begged, leaning over and whispering into his ear.

Gokudera froze. He had heard that, perfectly. He sucked in a heavy breath and held it there until his ribcage stopped convulsing. He wasn't in a dungeon, he was being held!

Tsuna's face was bent down close to Gokudera's as he watched emotions fly across his pale features. "H-hayato? Can you hear me?" Tsuna whispered as Gokudera's breathing finally quieted.

'Yes! I can hear you! Tsuna! You're all right! I'm so relieved!' Gokudera screamed out in his mind, but his body wouldn't respond.

"Please respond, I need to know if you can hear me." Tsuna trailed off, his voice wavering.

Gokudera's heart clutched at the sound of Tsuna's weakness. He concentrated all of his will into making some sort of noise, anything. What came out was a small half sigh, half grunt, but was definitely affirmative.

Tsuna let out a happy sigh. "I am so glad, Haya-t-uh…oh, I guess you don't know yet." Tsuna trailed off, he jumped when he saw Gokudera's unfocused eyes widen with alarm. "No, no. Nothing bad. It's not bad at all in fact." He paused, watching Gokudera's eyes soften.

"I just…wanted to make sure you knew. You see, I never got a chance to give you my response. I…I love you too, Gokudera-kun. I love you so much…" Tsuna trailed off, his voice shaking with emotion. A tear slid down his cheek and landed on Gokudera's who couldn't do anything but blink when it hit his face.

"And…thank you, for coming after me. I hoped you would. I thought they had taken you, when I found out that they hadn't, I was so relieved, it didn't even matter to me if I was captured. I…I was just so happy that you were safe." Tsuna stopped, a small sob escaping from his lips. He put one palm on Gokudera's chest to steady himself as he leaned over and cried, the emotions finally catching up with him.

Gokudera concentrated hard until his hand slowly moved, one small motion at a time. Finally it was on top of Tsuna's hand, comforting him. Gokudera allowed his eyes to drift shut, it's not like they were doing him any good anyway and that one small movement had taken way too much energy to complete.

Tsuna's eyes flew open and he looked in surprise at the sudden contact. He looked down as Gokudera shut his eyes, a small smile on his hiccupped and smiled back. Leaning forward he pressed his lips against Gokudera's. His lips tasted like blood and were chapped from hyperventilating, Tsuna pressed a little harder and licked slightly, trying to help with the chapping and trying to find a taste other than blood. He was rewarded with a sharp inhale, that sounded almost happy, and the faint taste of mint and cigarettes. Tsuna smiled and pulled his head back as he felt Gokudera's fingers slowly curl around his own.

Tsuna kept a grasp on Gokudera's hand and cradled his head in his lap with his other arm, leaning down over Gokudera's prone form. His head whipped up as he heard crashing in the bushes from across the clearing. He hardened his eyes, not willing to give up Gokudera without a fight.

His expression turned to one of relief as the bushes parted to reveal a running Uri, followed by Yamamoto and Ryohei, running as fast as their athletic legs could carry them. Tsuna hadn't even noticed Uri had left.

Yamamoto and Ryohei ran across the clearing, skidding to a stop. "Tsuna! What happened? Is Gokudera okay?"

"Of course he's not okay. Octopus head looks EXTREMELY hurt!" Ryohei countered.

Tsuna smiled slightly, relieved at the help that had arrived. "I think he will be okay, but we need to get him back to the base as fast as we can."

Yamamoto nodded and bent down to pick up Gokudera's limp body easily. Tsuna smiled wryly, a little unhappy that he couldn't do that himself, trying to stand his knees buckled underneath him.

Ryohei barked a laugh, catching Tsuna under his arms before he could get too far down. He picked up Tsuna like a child and turned to Yamamoto, "Let's race EXTREMELY fast back to the base! It's fair since we're both carrying someone!"

Yamamoto laughed, "Maa maa, but Gokudera is so much heavier than Tsuna, at least give me a head start." Both boys jogged off with Uri bounding behind them, all just happy to have their friends alive.


	6. Breath

First off, my apologies once again to my subscribers. My laptop kicked the bucket suddenly and it took me a couple of months to save up the money to fix it. Also, a HUGE thanks to jenjenshim for the EPIC REVIEW OF EPIC-OSITY-NESS. Thank you.

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When Tsuna had caught Gokudera sleeping before, the boy had been curled on his side and he had an odd habit of twitching his fingers. (Once, when Tsuna and Yamamoto had found him asleep on the roof of the school they had jokingly started playing piano music from Yamamoto's cell phone and yes, his fingers started twitching near uncontrollably; that is, until their laughing woke Gokudera up.) Another sleeping habit of his storm guardian was that his breathing was louder, probably due to his smoker's lungs, almost a breezy whuffling.

This was nothing like that.

Tsuna had heard that when people were stuck in a hospital room bed, it merely looked like they were sleeping. He would like to discount the people that said that as being liars. Gokudera looked like he was dead. Disturbingly, he looked as though he was in a coffin or a mortuary's viewing room. The hospital room's white sheets where arranged neatly around his head and his arms were placed carefully on top of the perfectly white blanket. His face was pale and his lips were white and slightly open. His shallow breaths couldn't be heard over the hum of machines and the heart-rate monitor, which seemed to be beeping too slowly to be normal.

For Tsuna to notice Gokudera's chest rising and falling took a significant amount of concentration and a steady focal point close to his chest to measure it against. Gokudera's usual black leather bracelets were replaced with sterile, plastic hospital identification ones, which were barely noticeable next to his bandaged hands. His chains replaced with a dog-tag note stating his patient number and blood type.

He had had plenty of time to take in his surroundings in the four days that he had been sitting in that hospital room, too much time. Family members would come and go, bringing food for Tsuna and get well soon gifts, and once or twice a day Yamamoto would come to take over so Tsuna could shower and maybe sleep for an hour or two; promising to call if anything, even the slightest little thing, changed.

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On the fifth day, Gokudera's heart rate was finally up to his normal resting number and his lips were finally starting to have color again. The doctor commented that it was expected with his improved circulation indicated by his heart rate blah blah blah. Tsuna didn't understand the rest. Once the doctor left, Tsuna's half exhausted brain gave in to temptation and he leaned in, giving those hopeful lips a soft kiss. He smiled as he straightened up, it was good to feel that Gokudera was breathing. It was much more substantial of a reassurance than his tired eyes trying to pick out the movement of his ribcage.

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Tsuna came back from his shower break on day six to find a special surprise. Yamamoto had specially requested for Gokudera to be temporarily moved to a double hospital bed. While Tsuna stared, confused and speechless upon his return; Yamamoto had chuckled, picked him up and tucked him into bed next to Gokudera. Tsuna had fallen asleep, cuddled into Gokudera's unbandaged shoulder, mere seconds after hearing Yamamoto's assurance that he would stay awake to keep watch.

Twelve hours and one rejuvenated boss later, Tsuna woke up to find Yamamoto asleep in a chair and Gokudera with color back in his cheeks.

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Day seven came and Tsuna was being forced into catching up on paperwork. The double bed had truly only been temporary and was now replaced by a desk on wheels and an uncomfortable chair. Tsuna's most anticipated comfort was his periodical "double-check-to-make-sure-Gokudera-is-really-breathing-not-a-kiss."

Setting the thick manila folder down, Tsuna leaned back and rubbed his forehead.

"Ita-ta-ta…I can't see straight." Tsuna muttered, pushing his chair back and standing up. He took the two and a half steps over to Gokudera's bed and leaned over his unconscious right hand man, brushing hair back that wasn't in the way in the first place.

"I don't know how you always managed to get so much done, Hayato. What would I do without you?" Tsuna whispered less than an inch away from Gokudera's lips, pausing to feel Gokudera's faint breath ghost over his lips before placing yet another soft kiss on the slightly parted lips. Tsuna's eyes gently closed as he lingered a second or two longer than he usually did before straightening his posture.

Tsuna blew out a breath and sat down on the edge of Gokudera's hospital bed. He gently put one hand over Gokudera's motionless hand and tilted his head back to the ceiling, closing his eyes.

"I miss you, Hayato. I miss you and I love you." Tsuna exhaled loudly. He rolled his shoulders, stretching his neck and glanced down at the man whose hand he was holding and nearly jumped in surprise.

A pair of clear green eyes were staring unfocused at the wall in front of the bed. Tsuna stared in disbelief and swallowed heavily.

"H-hayato? Can you hear me?" Tsuna spoke, just barely above a whisper. Gokudera looked the same that he had for the past week, he hadn't moved except his eyes were open. Tsuna held his breath as he watched Gokudera's eyes dialate and flutter open and shut, adjusting to the light but still staring straight ahead.

Tsuna gripped Gokudera's hand a little bit tighter. "Hayato! It's me!" He leaned forward, "please answer."

Gokudera's eyes drifted shut and Tsuna sat back up with a sigh. He looked back at Gokudera's face just in time to see it slowly twitch up into a weak half-smile. Gokudera's fingers slowly tightened ever so slightly in Tsuna's hand.

"Ts-Tsuna…" Gokudera whispered without moving his lips.

Tsuna's vision swam as his eyes filled with tears of joy.

"Hayato! You're…you're…." Tsuna paused, choking on his happiness as tears skipped down his cheeks onto their connected hands. Gokudera mumbled a few incoherent syllables.

"I…love you." Gokudera opened his eyes as he whispered.

"I love you." A little louder than a whisper this time, Gokudera's eyes finally focused on Tsuna's face.

Tsuna hiccupped, trying to stop crying. He chuckled at his failure at this and launched himself forward, wrapping his arms around Gokudera's neck.

"I love you too, Hayato!" Tsuna laughed into Gokudera's now-wet shoulder as he felt Gokudera's cheek lean into his messier-than-usual brown hair.

"What'd I miss?" Gokudera slurred after Tsuna calmed down.

Tsuna glanced over at the desk and smiled wryly, "Paperwork, not much else."

Gokudera closed his eyes and managed a small half smile again, "m'favorite."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow and chuckled "Really?"

Gokudera cracked one eye open and breathed a shaky laugh, "heh, no, not really."

Tsuna laughed. "I don't blame you." He blushed a little and leaned forward, placing a kiss on Hayato's smiling mouth, his heart jumped when he felt those lips he'd kissed so many times finally twitch back and kiss in response.

"I-I should let you sleep." Tsuna said after sitting back up. He was sure his face was bright red; thank goodness Gokudera's eyes were closed.

Gokudera paused then forced his eyes to open again, "One more?"

Tsuna blushed deeper and leaned in, maybe too quickly, and happily complied, kissing him enthusiastically.

"Now go to sleep, you need to get your strength back." Tsuna chided as he helped Gokudera roll over onto his side.

"Yes, juu—Tsuna." Gokudera smirked at Tsuna's mothering tone.

Tsuna chuckled softly and pulled the blankets up over Hayato's shoulder. "I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."

Gokudera barely managed a smile and a slight nod before sliding back into peaceful sleep. Not the sleep of a dying man but the sleep of a recovering hero.

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Tsuna waited a few minutes and pulled out his phone, hitting a speed dial.

"…Hello? ….Yeah. He woke up…

No…he's asleep again…

Yeah…you can come by later…

You'll call them for me?...

Thanks. I really appreciate it…

Yes. He's going to be just fine…

Yeah, I promise…

Talk to you later? Okay…. Later."


End file.
